The 50 Bookish Questions Tag

I wanted to do a quick tag again now that I have an internet connection. “And then you choose a 50-questions tag?!” – why, yes, because these are all questions I can fairly quickly get through! I found it on Bookbomb‘s blog. If you want to do this tag yourself, consider yourself tagged by me.

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What was the last book you read? I just finished Scythe by Neal Shusterman, review is up.

2. Was it a good one? It was a boring one with a lot of untapped potential, unfortunately.

3. What made it good?Well, now you have me in a bind. The writing was good.

4. Would you recommend it to other people?I didn’t dislike reading it, but no.

5. How often do you read?Mostly every day, on the bus ride to work and during lunch break. When I have the day off I sometimes read, sometimes I spend the entire day behind my computer writing blog posts, watching Netflix or playing games.

6. Do you like to read?No, I hate it, that’s why I have a bookstagram, a bookblog and am currently doing these 50 bookish questions. Who thought these questions up? They better get better!

7. What was the last bad book you read? Did I Mention I Love You. I had a blast reading it because it reminded me so much of being sixteen again, but it was cringeworthy in both writing and plot. When talking about actual dislike, I DNF’d The Sin Eater’s Daughter and Seeker. It’s not often I come across a book I find I well below the standard of ‘mweh’ or ‘not for me’ into actual dislike.

8. What made you dislike it? I hated the plot for The Sin Eater’s Daughter, and Seeker was just bad writing. I figured out what was going on on the first page, the protagonist did about a few chapters in and then the author KEPT IT SECRET for almost the entire book while it was extremely obvious. Among other gripes I had.

9. Do you wish to be a writer? I do consider myself a writer, just not an author. I write almost every day, and I also really enjoy blogging.

10. Has any book ever influenced you greatly?Yes, I think a lot of them did, actually. One of the most memorable was Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It opened my eyes to an almost casual, flippant sort of racism and anti-feminism, that we don’t even see as such anymore. It made a big impact on how I view life, it has made me become more aware of my own thoughts – Am I thinking this because it’s really what I think, or what I have just assumed to be true? Do I accept this because that’s how the world works, or because we constructed it to work like that?

11. Do you read fan fiction?No, I never did. It’s not for me. I want to know what a writer thinks of his or her subjects, not what a fan would like to see.

12. Do you write fan fiction? That’s also a no, although I wouldn’t mind some harmless daydreaming on a scene that’s not in the book but which I would enjoy.

13. What’s your favourite book?Seriously, stop asking people to choose a single book. I love many books from various stages of my life that I love in different but equal ways. One book I alwasy come back to over the years is The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly, but that’s not to say I don’t have others.

14. What’s your least favourite book? Same problem. I can think of a lot, most of which I had to read for college classes. There are also some that I liked reading, but whose ideas I just can’t agree with (Jane Eyre, for example). Some that portray all the wrong ideas and provide role models when they shouldn’t (The Ruby Red trilogy). And some that are just plain badly written (Seeker, I mentioned you before).

15. Do you prefer physical books or ready on a device?Physical books. I like how they fit in my hands – even through awkward poses -, how they smell, how they feel and especially how they look in my collection of books. I could never not be surrounded by books. And I can’t get into the story as well when I read it on a device. It’s mostly just what you’re used to, of course, but I only read on a device when I have no other option available.

16. When did you learn to read?I don’t know.. In The Netherlands you learn to read in your third year of school, so I think at age 6. I was a quick study, because I loved reading very much, so I can’t imagine it took me long to start reading stories.

17. What is your favourite book you had to read in school? I actually can’t think of one. Dutch literature wasn’t for me (still isn’t), and for English we never got to read any cool classics such as Wuthering Heights, or books by Charles Dickens or Jane Austen or any such thing. It was all just really somber and woeous and horrid. At least, that is how I remember my reading list. Reading at school actually made me stop reading for a long time.

18. What is your favourite book series?Again with this. To name a few: Kushiel’s Dart series, Earth Girl series, Daughter of Smoke and Bone series. Just about any series by Brandon Sanderson. The Name of the WInd series. Locke Lamora series. Throne of Glass series. ACOTAR series.

19. Who is your favourite author?You’re kidding, right? I guess the immediate top is a tie between Brandon Sanderson, Sarah J Maas and Agatha Christie.

20. What is your favourite genre?YA, fantasy and SF

21. Who is your favourite character in a book series?… I don’t know. I love Phèdre from Kushiel’s Dart. Aelin, Lysandra and Manon from Throne of Glass. Kaladin from Way of Kings. Kelsier from Mistborn. I love a lot of them.

22. Has a book ever transported you somewhere else? Just about every time I open a book I really enjoy. People have commented on how “into” a book I get all my life. I don’t hear them, I cry or laugh in front of them. I just shut off when I read.

23. Which book do you wish had a sequel?If I don’t count the books for which I’m just waiting for a sequel to arrive, and limit myself to standalones that I wish would be expanded upon… I can’t really think of any. For the longest time that was Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, but he is now planning one.

24. Which book do you wish DIDN’T have a sequel?I stopped reading some books after the first one because I was happy with how it concluded. I never read beyond Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, for instance.

25. How long does it take you to read a book?I would say somewhere between 3-6 days, depending on how much reading time I can get and how much I enjoy the book. I have been known to read a trilogy in one day, but it can also take two weeks when I’m not really feeling it and keep putting off reading.

26. Do you like when books become movies? No, I don’t. I always want to see it and then they always screw it up. Harry Potter being the exception. What I want is an in-depth ten hour miniseries with the exact conversations and descriptions from the book with perfect casting. Wake me when that happens.

27. Which book was ruined by its movie adaptation?OMG, which wasn’t? Latest: Shadowhunters. Anticipating with dread: Ready Player One.

28. Which movie has done a book justice?The Harry Potter series, but probably just because J.K. Rowling had veto-rights.

29. Do you read newspapers? No, because it seriously depresses me. I tried once for three months. I was asked to please stop because all I could talk about was all the horrible things happening, depressing everyone around me as well.

30. Do you read magazines? Pay an exorbitant amount of money for something I’m done with in five minutes, all the while getting annoyed by advertisements every other page? I think you can tell how severely I dislike magazines.

31.Do you prefer newspapers or magazines?I stay away from both with equal vigor.

32. Do you read while in bed?I can’t read before I go to sleep, because I will keep myself awake. I have tried this many times, and it always ends with me getting two hours and having to work the next day. I do however, go lie down on my bed for a nap but then just spend the time reading. I prefer sitting when reading, though.

33. Do you read while on the toilet?Sometimes, when I bring my book in. Or when I’m at my mom’s where my brother has put some of his Donald Duck pockets in the bathroom. But I usually just bring my phone and check Instagram.

34. Do you read while in the car? I trained myself to do so, but I’m usually the one driving. I read on the bus.

35. Do you read while in the bath? I don’t have a bath, but I wouldn’t, considering how quickly the water gets cold.

36. Are you a fast reader?Yes.

37. Are you a slow reader?Then this would be no, obvsly.

38. Where is your favourite place to read? Public transport, to be honest. I can look forward to travelling just by thinking of the book I’ll have uninterrupted time for.

39. Is it hard for you to concentrate when you read?Not at all. I’m quickly immersed and automatically shut everything out.

40. Do you need a room to be silent while you read? No, I actually need background noise, like music.

41. Who gave you your love for reading?My mom. She reads just as much as me, and we always had books and stories in the house. I’ve always had my own bookcase, we went to the library each Saturday, I read books from school and had a subscription to a fairytale series consisting of both book and cassette on which they were read aloud.

42. What book is next on your list to read? I’m currently reading The Rook, and I’m so into it, I want the second book too, even though I’m on a book buying ban. Wintersong is also on its way, though.

43. When did you start to read chapter books?Don’t know, I went through learning to read really quickly, so as soon as I finished with the AVI’s (a step ladder of increasing difficulty for children learning to read). 7, I suppose.

44. Who is your favourite children’s book author? Thea Beckman. She was responsible for my first obsessions.

45. Which author would you most want to interview? Agatha Christie, I think. If she were still alive.

46. Which author do you think you’d be friends with? That’s kind of hard to tell when all you know is their books and not their personalities. I think I would like Maggie Stiefvater, and Keira Cass (even though I’m not a big fan of her books, I saw an interview with her once).

47. What book have you reread the most? Pff… uhm… The Winter Rose, I think. Or Kushiel’s Dart. I am a big fan of multiple rereads.

48. Which books do you consider ‘classics’?In the traditional sense, established English authors from somewhere around the 1800s. Dickens, Austen, the Bronte sisters, etc. But also books from classical times, such as the Iliad, the Odyssee and the plays.

49. Which books do you think should be taught in every school? Don’t get me started. I have long raged against the reading lists provided at schools, and their refusal to include anything recent or non-mainstream. I think literary education should be as broad as possible, and it should be stimulated to be such. So, I think all genres should be taught. I think it would benefit children to not just read a mainstream classic, but also a biography of someone they are really interested in, or a fantasy/science fiction novel they can discuss real world-application with, or a graphic novel to show how image and word interact. If I’m lucky, I can get PhD funding for developing something like that in a few years.

50. Which books should be banned from all schools? Are you serious? No book should ever be banned. All knowledge is worth having, and that is the absolute truth. Only by reading a lot and as diversely as possible do we get an allround view of what the world offers us. We should only form opinions based on sound, thorough research. To collect as many stories as possible. Who is to say something shouldn’t be read, or taught? I actually find this question really disturbing.

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So on that high note, I conclude my 50 answers! Not the best list of questions, I admit, but still, it is a fun enough read through. If you have any tips on other tags that are better / more fun / something you want to see from me, don’t hesitate to tell me below.

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One thought on “The 50 Bookish Questions Tag”

I’m not the only one who hated the Dutch literature books thank God! We didn’t read classics for English either and I keep wondering why 😦 also, the thing with the Donald Ducks on the toilet, ask /any/ Dutch person where they keep their Donald Ducks and most will say in the bathroom hahaha

About me

I am Dutch, 31 and the assistent manager to a gorgeous-looking bookstore. I read (a lot), write and blog about YA, fantasy and scifi.
I have a BA in Literary Sciences and working on my MA, hopefully going for a PhD.
I'm fairly sure my book addiction is slowly taking over my life. I'm so focused on my reading, writing, bookstagram, blog and tea-drinking habits that I'm being a CLASSIC bookaholic.

Birthday!March 18th, 2017

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Show love to your local bookstore and buy from them to keep their doors open! <3